Seat belts according to the prior art are permanently attached at one end to the structure of the motor vehicle by means of an end fitting, whereas the other end of the belt webbing can be rolled up onto a belt retractor that is also permanently affixed to the structure of the motor vehicle.
However, there are various applications where a detachable connection must be provided between the end fitting and the structure of the motor vehicle. For structural or logistical reasons related to motor vehicle assembly it may be necessary, for example, in the case of a safety-belt system with an end-fitting tensioner (such as a so called pretensioner), for the end-fitting tensioner to be affixed first to the structure of the motor vehicle or to a seat of the motor vehicle, and the seat belt with the end fitting then connected in a second assembly step to the end-fitting tensioner via a quick-release closure. In this case, the mounting of the end fitting on the end-fitting tensioner is done by the motor-vehicle manufacturer, so that it should be possible to handle the quick-release closure according to the requirements of the motor vehicle manufacturers as cost-efficiently and simply as possible. Furthermore, the quick-release closure should be designed such that incorrect mounting by the motor vehicle manufacture can be ruled out, even during very rapid assembly.
Furthermore, a quick-release closure of this kind enables separate manufacture and delivery of the end-fitting tensioner and the safety-belt system to the vehicle manufacturer. Moreover, the quick-release closure enables a detachable connection of the vehicle-mounted end of the seat belt to the motor vehicle, so that this end of the seat belt of the safety-belt system can be disassembled with less effort and expense.
From DE 102 45 818 A1, a generic quick-release closure is known that has a locking element comprised of two spring-loaded pincer elements. In this case, the connection of the seat belt to the motor vehicle takes place by means of a vehicle-mounted locking tongue that is inserted between the pincer elements and is then held by them. The pincer elements themselves are pivotably mounted between a two-layered end fitting. A disadvantage of this solution is that the quick-release closure, due to the two-layer end fitting and the pincer elements mounted between the layers, has a complicated design, which in turn results in greater time and expense being needed for assembly. The task of the invention is to devise a generic, cost-efficient quick-release closure with a simple constructional design.